


To New Beginnings

by hops



Series: For Old Time's Sake [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Dancing, Drinking, F/M, Makeup Sex, Old Married Couple, Reconciliation, Wedding Reception, basically at this point..., continental breakfast, it's just happy., lots of sweet talking, talking! walking!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-22 19:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12488800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hops/pseuds/hops
Summary: "The day of Carey and Killian’s wedding was full of laughing, and dancing, and feasting, and loving. It was one of the happiest days of all of your lives, and even happier days were to come, because that was the world that you made. That was the ending you earned."After a year of ups and downs, Magnus and Lucretia reconvene and reconcile on the happiest of occasions.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey all! thanks for checkin' this out! this piece has been a big ol labor of love for me, a long time coming. and, as always, this would not be half of what it is had it not been for the editing/suggesting/beta'ing/cheerleading help of @epersonae and @emi_rose. thank you both x 100. 
> 
> this is a pivotal point of the "For Old Time's Sake" series, which you can click thru to in the descrip. it is also meant to mirror [the journal, the jukebox, the jacket.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12002172/chapters/27156945) so if you wanna get down with the Full Magcretia Experience, check it on out? but i think it stands alone alright too. 
> 
> anyway yeah i'm really jazzed about this piece so lmk what you think! it's gonna have a few chapters.

Carey and Killian’s reception was just as beautiful as their wedding ceremony. On the bottom floor of a beautiful hotel, the dining room had been filled with round tables beneath the garlands of ivy and baby’s breath that had been hung across the tall ceiling. The room lead out to tall glass doors which were wide open in the cool evening air, decorated with billowing cream curtains that swayed in the breeze. Outside was the grand dance floor, complete with fantasy speakers playing soft music to set the mood for dinner before the dancing that would happen later. Strings of yellowish glowing light bulbs hung above. It was the fairytale that the Bureau’s best regulators had long deserved.

The brides, along with Magnus (who had been elected to be both Carey and Killian’s best man,) and the rest of the wedding party sat at the head of the great hall. The rest of the tables had been divided between the many friends and family they had found over the years spent with the Bureau.

The only point of contention for the day had come from one issue with the dining room: the tables sat six. After some advice from Magnus, the women had decided that Magnus, of course, would be at the front table, and Davenport, Merle, Barry, Lup, Taako, and Kravitz would be at a table of their own. Lucretia would sit with Avi and Angus and some of the other inner circle Bureau of Balance friends. It seemed it would be the path of least resistance, and the easiest way to try to keep the reception running smoothly.

Taako had never made their grudge much of an issue in public anyway. For someone who was usually over the top, he kept his business and his emotions to himself. Lucretia was always reserved, to nobody’s surprise. If anything, she tried her best to give Taako his space while also keeping in contact with the rest of her family. Today was one of those days.

And so, the dinner was delicious (because Taako had insisted on heading the endeavor himself. “Let ol’ Taako give a gift! Besides, I’ve never seen sweeter flips.” he’d sang when they protested,) and Lucretia tried to ignore the somewhat nauseous feeling as she ate, glancing from time to time to see the six drinking and laughing together at the table.

She remembered the table with seven chairs on the Starblaster. How one of them used to be hers.

It was cruelly appropriate, bringing old feelings she’d never let go of bubbling back to the surface. She got caught up on the same old creeping loneliness that had only been solidified by Magnus’s drunken lapse in judgement when he’d called her at a family dinner at Taako’s that she hadn’t been invited to. She hadn’t attended one since.

She felt particularly exiled from the twins and their partners, rightfully so. Lup, Barry, Kravitz, and Taako had been inseparable in the year following the Story and Song. She was glad to see their own family thrive, but was increasingly more intimidated each time she was faced with the four of them. She couldn’t imagine what they had to say about her behind closed doors, what they must have been telling the others.

She wondered if Magnus had spent time with them. If he was sleeping with Taako again.

Lup was telling a story enthusiastically with her hands. A small flame appeared from nothing from her fingertip as she extended her hand, pointing it like a gun. Lucretia couldn’t help but wish she was by her side laughing, too. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop the rush of anxiety and sadness that filled her mind, and she set her glass of wine down on the table.

“Madam, are you okay?” Avi said quietly beside her, wanting to be discreet.

“Yes, Avi. I’m okay. I’m just not feeling very well,” she assured him. “And please, I meant it, you can call me Lucretia.”

“Sorry, I’m working on it,” Avi shrugged. “Do you want me to get you some water?”

She looked away, glancing slowly around the room. “I think I’ll be alright. Thank you.”

The cake was cut and distributed to the tables, everyone enjoying the dessert and drinking and rejoicing in the love that Carey and Killian shared. And she was happy for them; not only for the brides, but for everyone, for having a celebration after the rebuilding year that they so, so deserved. But once again she felt left out of the joy, wondering why she could never celebrate like any of the others of the IPRE or the Bureau. She was always on the fringe, watching everybody else enjoying each other. Enjoying the relief of the beautiful new world they’d made safe, forever. She picked at the cake thoughtlessly as she got lost in the spiral of her own thoughts.

As some of the more ambitious (or somewhat drunken) partygoers began to gravitate towards the dance floor, the sound of a familiar laugh glowed gold in her chest. _Magnus._ She turned to look at him, doubled over at his seat at the table with his hand on Carey’s back. The dragonborn was laughing just as hard.

Lucretia smiled. She was so happy he was happy. He deserved it.

The warmth faded as the voice within her crept in again: _He deserves it, and you don’t._

As Magnus settled down from his raucous laughter, he looked up and caught Lucretia’s gaze. Her instinct was to quickly look away, but something kept her staring. She hadn’t seen him since they’d talked about everything, hadn’t heard from him since the letter that still sat in her desk drawer, and the space they’d wound up in was so open-ended that she had no idea what to _say_ to him. She’d been so worried about seeing Taako and Magnus both that she hadn’t rehearsed much of either potential interaction, and now she wasn’t sure what to do.

So she simply smiled.

And Magnus smiled back.

And he raised his glass, took a sip of his cider, and turned back to his conversation with Carey.

She was reminded of the boy standing at the bar, one hundred and thirteen years ago, just minutes before receiving the black eye that had marked each year they spent together like the compass home, the ringing of a new year, the hope of saving the world this time. He was smiling at her as she looked up from two journals. He had raised a glass with that same crooked grin, red jacket unbuttoned with the confidence only Magnus could possess.

She remembered the butterflies. Those had never quite gone away.

The rest of the partygoers had trickled onto the dance floor, including the brides, who were late to their own first dance after having been so absorbed in their usual rabble rousing with Magnus. Still, Lucretia felt a little paralyzed. Enough to keep her sitting through an important piece of the reception. She sipped her wine, tried to think about things that kept her mind quiet at times like these. Usually it was simply a reminder of the new family she had gained through the Bureau of Balance (and now, with all its new recruits, the Bureau of Benevolence) that kept her mind centered and a bit brighter. Not everything in her life had been lost to the Voidfish.

She sat for a while, her mind slowly wandering away from the thoughts that had wound her tight, and instead finished another glass of wine. People came and went from the dance floor. Most of them returned with refreshed makeup or a refilled round of drinks. Footsteps approaching to go around her table didn’t break the wandering of her mind. She was content where she was.

It wasn’t until a hesitant hand touched her shoulder that she was roused from her train of thought.

“Hey,” Magnus said, smiling and wavering just a little bit in his pleasant level of drunkenness. “It’s really good to see you.”

She melted into his touch for just half a moment before he pulled away to stand in front of her, handing her another glass of the wine she’d been drinking. He still remembered her favorite. “It’s really good to see you too, Magnus.” A beat of silence, thankfully filled by the thrumming of music outside, passed between them before she spoke again. “How’s Raven’s Roost? And your _dog?_ ”

“It’s good! And he’s great.” He nodded, smiling as he spoke, and her heart fluttered with happiness for him. “You’ll have to come visit soon and meet him.”

She paused for a moment, mind tripping over the words and their implication of being alone with him for the first time since the fight she’d tried to escalate with him in the name of self-destruction. Luckily he’d seen through her, and simply asked for time. So she’d given it to him. It wasn’t the infinite resource before them in that century-long summer of their youth, but it was the most precious and the most necessary thing she could give him after all she had done.

“That would be nice,” she said, somewhat absent from her words.

Magnus moved to pull out the seat beside her that had been previously occupied by Avi. Her heart quickened in his presence. She sipped her wine, trying to focus her thoughts which vacillated between panic and fondness.

“I miss you a lot. Things aren’t the same without you around.” He looked away to fiddle with a leaf of the floral centerpiece on the table. “Especially not without you around for me to beg to sit with me at lunch, or walk with me on the quad.”

The memories passed fondly by, thinking about the youthful Magnus she had met on the moon base. Still her Magnus, but a Magnus raised into adulthood by the townsfolk who loved him, and the town that he had loved so much. He was broken by the destruction of his home, but had begun to heal over the year searching for relics. He was nowhere near as old or as worn down as when they had scattered the relics throughout Faerun. He had intuitively known her loneliness and found himself resonating with it, be it consciously through the memory of his lost home, or unconsciously through the muscle memory of his heart, always anticipating the needs of her own. She had relished the few times she allowed him a seat in her office or across from her in the dining hall, or a spot next to her as she strolled the grass of the campus. And of course, the moment of indiscretion she’d allowed herself after hours at the Chug ‘n’ Squeeze that she could never quite bring herself to wholly regret. She looked down at her empty hands in her lap, thinking about how they belonged in his own.

She wondered if he had been able to reconcile the two halves of his growth, one borne out of the strenuous struggle of the IPRE, and the other borne out of the somewhat normal life he’d started to have, interrupted by tragedy. Sometimes she wondered if they were both marked with misfortune, in any universe.

“It’s funny,” she started softly, gathering the nerve to look back up at him. “Even in the days when you didn’t know who I was, you were still so definitively you.”

“I think a part of me always knew. Even if I didn’t know,” he said, taking a short pause. “You were lonely.”

“I was.”

 _I am,_ she wanted to say.

He looked at her as if to absorb the mild irony of her sitting alone at the table while everyone else was celebrating. He glanced out the tall open doors and out to the softly lit dance floor. Her eyes followed his gaze to find the five, plus Kravitz, and Angus up on Lup’s shoulders, dancing together. As if he were reading her mind, he murmured, “You don’t have to be.”

His hand found her knee. She felt the solid, warm touch though the fabric of her dress.The feeling sent her head spinning, despite her better judgment, and for the first time in what felt like forever, she allowed herself to miss him. To ache for his touch again. To wish desperately for just one more day, tucked somewhere within all that time they spent tangled in each other’s souls, made new again with the passing of each year.

She couldn’t bring herself to speak. She only smiled, making sure that none of the grief within her touched her eyes.

“Don’t be a stranger. I think they’d like to see you more than you think.”

She swallowed. “But--”

“I promise. Things will be okay tonight.” He gently squeezed her knee, them pulled his hand away.

Her knee felt cold at the absence of his touch.

He stood up and stretched a little with a loud groan. “Gettin’ old,” he groaned.

Lucretia laughed in spite of herself. Her sarcastic response was a reflex. “Oh, shut up.”

That same crooked smile illuminated her heart, leaving her glowing as he turned and walked out to the crowd of their dancing friends without another word.

She continued meditating on her thoughts of the decades and decades since she’d left her home on that two-sunned planet. She could barely remember it now; human minds weren’t built to remember so much time. She’d had to deliberately select what to keep, what to hold close, what to put down in writing in concise but perfect detail so she would never lose it to the passage of time. In a way, it wasn’t so different from the inking of her journals, selecting only the most important sentences with her best discretion.

So many of the things she’d sealed forever in writing were her moments with Magnus. Those beautiful, tender moments bathed in the soft light of memory; the tangle of their bodies, the nights spent stargazing under each world’s new sky, the sleepy forehead kisses alone in the kitchen of the ship on the late nights or early mornings while everyone else slept below deck. She wrote down the clever things he’d said, the romantic, the silly, the sweet. The brave. Gods, he was so, so brave. All of these pieces of him, they’d never changed.

In a lot of ways, he was still her Magnus.

And of course, there had been much to journal in her days as Madam Director. On top of chronicling the Bureau and its members whom she had come to care so much for, she held the memories of their little moments together close and filed them all amongst the pages. Sometimes she wondered if it’d be easier to forget them all, but each time her century-old affection for him prevailed. Even if he’d never have her back, at least she would always have those pieces of him to hold onto.

She watched him on the dance floor as he twirled Carey around, then Lup, who demanded her turn to be dramatically spun from her old friend’s hand and back into Barry’s arms. She noted that he had even better rhythm than he had been the last time she’d joined him for a dance in the late years of their century together. She wondered if it’d been Julia’s influence. At the feast after Magnus’s wedding, she’d noticed the way that he and his wife moved together to the quickening beat of the folk song that had echoed down the cobblestone streets of the Craftsmen’s Corridor. With a tearful smile, she’d raised a glass to the happy couple. To her love who finally had the beautiful life he deserved.

For a while, before Kalen’s attack, she’d considered leaving him out of the inoculation altogether, or at least leaving him to his happy ending as long as she possibly could. Perhaps he would have been happier without her interference in his new life. There wasn’t much use dwelling on it, but she couldn’t help but wonder who he would be if Julia were still alive. If being with him was a solid impossibility for the rest of their days, this would be so much easier. The proximity wouldn’t dizzy her with desire and grief. The memories would seem further away. Perhaps she’d even be able to let him go.

Lup raised Angus onto Magnus’s shoulder and, despite feeling tearful, Lucretia smiled brilliantly. Even after a century together, there was so much about him left to learn. So much of him left to love.

Gods, she missed him.

After the song was over, an even louder song of celebration rang through the reception. A few crowds of dancers returned to their tables for drinks and water and to wipe the sweat from their brows with breathless laughter. Emerging from this crowd, once again, was Magnus.

“Luce!” he called, looking more joyous now, cheeks flushed red from the combination of dancing and drinking he’d been doing throughout the night. “C’mon, come dance with us!”

She shook her head, waving a hand.

He pressed his hands together in prayer, as if to beg, and closed the space between them. “Come on! Pleeease?”

“No, I really shouldn’t. I can’t.”

“It’ll be fun, I promise. Just one dance? Just one. Luce. Luce c’mooon,” he goaded, leaning a little on her shoulder. It’d been a long time since she’d seen him drunk. Maybe not since the initial celebration after the Story and Song.

She took a deep breath in and held it, considering the thought for just a moment. It would be so nice to dance with him again, but she knew in her heart that the kind of closeness that dancing required would be too much for her heart, already full with the thought of him. She kicked herself for not knowing better than to let her mind wander so far into the comforting presence of his memory.

He took both of her hands into his, and her heart nearly leapt from her chest. His hands were just as they’d always remained in her mind: strong, warm, made rough by years of carving and adventuring. Any hope of holding onto the distance between them was immediately turned to sand in her grasp, and was replaced by the solid feeling of his grip, holding onto her and pulling her in close.

“One dance,” she said, nearly breathless with the whirlwind of emotions that carried her up and out of the chair, coaxed by the pull of his hands as he moved backwards towards the doors. “Just one!”

“Just one!” he called back to her, pulling her through the empty path between the tables. He was laughing, and she was too now, raising from a quiet chuckle at his usual enthusiastic self, into a loud laugh that got lost in the rest of the revelry of the reception. The attendants twirled beneath the lights in a whirl of colors, shouting and laughing and enjoying the loud and ever-building pace of the music.

Magnus pulled her in close, then held her hand above his head to twirl her towards the center of the dance floor where the rest of their family was absorbed in their own respective jubilation. Merle was doing an interpretive dance akin to the one from their year at the Conservatory, trying to teach Angus in his inebriation. Davenport stood close by, bobbing with a smile to the beat. Lup had Barry by both hands and was getting the most enthusiastic dance she could out of him as they both fell into a fit of laughter. And there was Taako, in his own little world with Kravitz, circling each other before joining hands for a whirl that turned them into a glimmering blur of pale pink silk and sparkling jewelry.

Before she could hesitate any longer, Magnus took her other hand in the same way and spun her right into the middle of the circle. She didn’t even have a moment to pause before the crescendo of the music reached its peak and sent the crowd into second wave of jubilation. In a flash, Lup had her by the hands and was kicking her legs out and pulling Lucretia’s hands to and fro with a wide smile. Lucretia couldn’t help but dance along as a long-sleeping joy leapt to life at the welcome touch of her old friend. For a moment, she forgot about the weight of their decade apart, about the umbrella in Wave Echo Cave, about what she’d done to her brother. She instead moved in the little moments that were peppered in her journals. All the things about her family that she needed to keep close to her heart to keep her grounded, even when things were falling apart.

Merle stole her away and held her hands at his arm’s upward length. She laughed and danced with him with a grateful smile, glad to see her old friend. When she bumped into Barry, he grinned and bobbed with them for a moment, before she got pulled into the circle once again. Even Davenport nodded by her side for a moment.

Magnus had Angus over his shoulder and he turned him around to greet Lucretia, absolutely dissolved in a fit of giggles. She kissed his forehead before Magnus heaved him back down onto the floor. Carey and Killian pulled her between them after. Killian took the crown of flowers from atop her head and placed it on Lucretia.

And there it was: the grin that they had all come to know, which shined in the very best of their moments together. The memory of that night a lifetime ago, before they left their first home,  moved to the front of her mind again: the way Magnus had pulled her to the tiny dance floor next to the jukebox, the way that they had all invited her in for a dance to lift her spirits. The way that she’d felt like they were her family for the very first time. She felt like she was nineteen again. She felt like she was home.

As Kravitz led Taako in something close to a waltz that didn’t quite match the music playing, he caught her eye and offered a kind smile. She saw the complicated mix of emotions in the momentary gaze but didn’t dwell on it for long. Magnus took her back into his hands as the song finished up, and Taako and Kravitz headed for the hall inside.

“One dance, as promised,” he said as he leaned in to speak over the music. The closeness of him made her feel dizzy. Still dwelling on the memories of the dive bar, she pulled even closer for just a moment and leaned up to his ear.

She lowered her voice as the music softened. “Maybe one more?”

She swore that the look in his eyes was made of the same complicated tangle of remembering and wanting that hers was. “Anything you want.” His low voice was all she could focus on as he pulled back in, even closer to her ear than before.

It always felt like this with him: the meeting, the memories, the hesitation, the indiscretion. She knew this might be a mistake that would hurt tomorrow, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. He was the shore her tide always always came back to, trying to pull the impossible sands back into the depths where they belonged. The tugging of the moon always kept her from him. The reality of their separate lives crashing together to the same result each time always broke her heart. But still, she returned, unable to keep herself from trying to reach for him just one last time.

He held her close and rocked her to the steady sway of the music. She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed being near him and the comfort of his broad shoulders, the feeling of the rumble of laughter between their chests, even the fanning of his warm breath near her cheek, smelling of ale, as he leaned down to make a joke.

“Merle’s still got it, huh?” Magnus chuckled at her ear. They both glanced up to see the dwarf dancing with enthusiasm, balancing a new drink in his hand.

Lucretia shrugged. “Party points,” she smirked.

Magnus laughed. Her heart swelled once more at the sound.

She was trying so hard not to get her hopes up again for them to be shattered in the morning. Every time she let him in, they wound up a little more splintered than the time before.

Perhaps she was being idealistic, but this time felt different. At least, she so badly wanted it to be.

He rocked her back and forth, then twirled her to wrap her in his arms. She felt absolutely breathless. The resistance to his affectionate touch evaporated and left nothing but exhilaration and want in its wake. He pushed her gently outward and into a spin as he held onto her hand above her once more. As he pulled her back in, he wrapped a steady, strong arm around the small of her back and dipped her low.

They were practically nose-to-nose. Only one thought made it through the racing mess of adrenaline that had seized her: _kiss him._

Everyone around them melted away; the music turned to silence in her ears and the lights framed his perfect face. For just a fraction of a moment, she considered fearlessly chasing the thought, reaching for his cheek and guiding her parted lips to his. She held back for just a second too long and Magnus pulled her back up to her feet, opportunity vanishing as soon as it had appeared.

The song came to an end and they slowed to a stop. He didn’t let go of her hand. The realist and the idealist in her mind were at odds with each other. _Let go,_ half of her begged. _This is going to hurt._

 _Hang on,_ the other half said, over and over. _Don’t let him go._

And so she didn’t.

He led her back through the crowd on the floor and into the dining room once more. Her heart braced for impact in her chest as he turned to her in the light flooding from inside, a long curtain drifting behind him in the wind. He looked so handsome, and suddenly the sight broke her heart.

“Lucretia,” he said, then stopped, clearly unsure of what to say next.

She squeezed his hand tight and didn’t let go. She didn’t know when she’d hold it next. Ignoring the tightness in her throat, she looked up and spoke to him with confidence. “This was really nice.” It took all of her strength to keep her voice from wavering. “But I think I’m going to turn in for the night.”

“Can I just buy you a drink? Just one, then I’ll let you go.”

Her tears were so close to breaking her composure. “You already bought me one,” she said with a strangled smile.

His hand was still wrapped tightly around hers. As her gaze returned to him, the lines of his familiar, handsome face made her heart ache. “Just one more. I don’t get to see you often and I want to catch up.”

Her better sense told her not to, but she didn’t know how to tell him no. She’d never learned how to.

Instead, she loosened her grip and pulled her hand from his grasp. The thought of her empty hands tomorrow filled her with grief and hesitation. Still, in spite of this: “Okay. Just one drink.”

The crooked smile that lit the entire room made the promise of heartache tomorrow worth it.

She followed him again through the maze of tables and chairs, approaching Kravitz, Barry, and the twins, who were huddled close and laughing loudly in their own world. It didn’t bother her like it had earlier. In fact, for the first time all night, she caught Taako’s eye as he looked up to sip on his cocktail. His reflexive, wide-eyed look met her own, and, perhaps because of the alcohol, perhaps because of the wedding, or perhaps because it just wasn’t worth being angry tonight, he sipped his drink cocked a brow. An olive branch, however broken and temporary it was. She glanced away as she passed the table and followed Magnus to the bar.

Magnus had both hands on the counter, waiting for the bartender to get to him to order. “A cider for me, and your finest pinot noir for the lady, please.”

He was still smiling. It was killing her.

The bartender returned with their drinks and Magnus handed her the wine with a nod. He raised his flagon in a toast and waited for her to do the same. He looked past her for a moment and nodded to Carey and Killian, who had returned to their table to rest for a moment. The dragonborn lay draped over her wife’s lap, blushing dark blue and kissing Killian’s cheek. Lucretia turned to look at the couple and was greeted by their enthusiastic waves. She turned back to Magnus with her glass still raised.

“To new beginnings,” he said, looking from the newlyweds and back to Lucretia.

He held her gaze for a moment that felt just a little bit too long before she echoed, “To new beginnings,” and hastily clinked her glass to his. She took a too-big sip and kept the glass thoughtfully on her lips to delay the conversation.

She wondered in silence about the lingering of his eyes. She scolded herself for allowing even a moment of weakness in his presence once again, making the same mistakes she always seemed to make when he came around. Now was not the time to get wrapped up in the dream of a reunion that might never happen; if anything, even just this drink would make it all feel worse tomorrow when he was gone once again and she had to return to Neverwinter alone.

“I miss you, Luce.”

_No, no, no._

Her throat tightened, rendering her voiceless.

He babbled on enthusiastically, unaware of the battle for her better judgment. “Tell me everything. How’s the Bureau? And the library? And your kitten, which you have not yet told me about??”

At least those were questions she could handle. She told him about her work with various rebuilding efforts, financed through the Bureau of Benevolence, and the grand new library which stood in the heart of Neverwinter. And, of course, she filled him in on all the details of her new companion, a little grey furball that she’d simply named Percy, short for Percival.

“Puuuurcival,” Magnus had immediately joked, slurring just a little as he leaned in and chuckled, close to her cheek. She felt dizzy.

It was so hard not to love him.

Hard enough that as he laughed, she couldn’t stop the intoxicated reaching of her hand for his arm resting on the bar. A wave of want rolled through her, which she tried desperately to stifle to no avail. As she met his eyes, she melted into the touch. He looked at her with nothing but fondness.

She withdrew her hand and promptly took another long sip of her wine, shaking herself awake from the momentary tension she’d allowed to build between them. “Tell me about Raven’s Roost, and the dogs.”

And she listened intently as he did. He walked her through the stages of rebuilding they’d gone through since she’d been there last, the details of his new home which he had finally finished, and the opening of the Hammer and Tails. The way he spoke with his hands and with such enthusiasm filled her heart with pride. She was so happy, so relieved, that the world had finally been kind to him. Gods, he had earned it.

As Lucretia looked around, she realized the majority of the guests had said their goodbyes to the brides and headed upstairs to their rooms above. The only ones left were Carey and Killian, Avi, who was helping a very drunk Merle out of the dining room, Taako’s table of four, and Angus, who looked as if he could fall asleep sitting up in the chair he’d taken next to Lup. The music had long been turned off, and the staff had come in to start cleaning up.

“It’s late,” Lucretia started, not wanting to finish the thought. So she didn’t.

Magnus looked at his empty drink. “Yeah, it is.”

She shifted uncomfortably and finished the last bit of her wine. “I should…”

“Yeah, cool, cool,” he said in his usual rush that followed awkward moments like these. “This was…”

Her heart stuttered at the half-sad look that touched his eyes. “It was nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, for sure. Yeah.”

“Did you…”

She stopped herself short as the rest of the sentence tumbled over itself and got lost in her mouth. _Don’t._ But so, so badly she wanted to finish her question. Her heart ached for a return of their love. Not for one night-- no, that wouldn’t do. She wanted a real return she knew she couldn’t have, an ending she hadn’t earned. A house with a dog and a cat and library and a studio. A love made whole again, every moment remembered. A promise.

He let out a long breath, drawing her attention. His voice wavered as he spoke. “I know it’s late, but do you want to go for a walk with me? Just for old time’s sake?”

This time she couldn’t stop the rush of tears that filled her eyes. She’d tried so hard to avoid this next inevitable heartbreak of tomorrow, but the wine had her mind, and he had her heart. She looked up to meet the melancholy smile on his mouth. For just a split second, she was reminded of all of their years all at once. A bruise, a red cloak, a wooden duck; a scar, an ax, a hand on Fisher’s tank.  And there he was before her: her Magnus, as always, for always. She couldn’t tell him no. She’d never learned how to.

And just moments ago, she’d been teetering on the very same question.

“Yes, I do.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Magnus,” Lucretia said softly. “Where are we going, exactly?” 

She looked up at his half-drunken smile as he spoke. “Hey, Luce? Just enjoy the night. When’s the last time you had time to enjoy yourself?” 

She considered his question and couldn’t answer. 

“Right. So, walk with me. One lap around the hotel. Sound fair?” 

She sighed and looked away from him, instead focusing on the empty dance floor as they passed it and snuck between the tall sculpted shrubbery. “First it was one dance, then it was one drink, now it’s one lap.” She couldn’t help but laugh.  

“Can’t I spend time with the moon’s best director?”

Her heart broke, remembering the other times he’d used the line. “You know what I’m getting at.” 

“Yeah…” They fell into silence, both looking up in different directions at the night sky. “...I didn’t mean to impose. If you want to go, I’m not gonna like, make you walk with me. I just thought…” 

_ What did you think?  _ “No, I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t want to go to sleep. I don’t want you to think that I don’t want to be here.”

“I don’t think that. I get it. I mean, last time I saw you, I didn’t exactly give you anything to go on.” 

She swallowed, rounding the corner to the side of the grand hotel that bordered the water of the Stillwater Sea and walked to the heavy rope that enclosed the walkway around the hotel from the glassy black surface. The silhouette of the fallen Judge’s broken body, since reclaimed by greenery and flora, was just barely visible under the starlit sky. She folded her arms over her chest and stared out at the newly born islands out over the water, hugging herself against the chill of the wind. 

“It feels like forever ago now,” she said, to the Judge, to the wind, to the water. She took pause to remember the year of the Judgement, the year she spent alone and running for her life, just trying to survive to escape and bring them all back to life. It was so long, wrought with struggle and anxiety that, to this day, had never fully healed. This year after the Hunger, it wasn’t at all as dangerous or terrifying. Only painfully long. At times, equally lonely. “Who would have thought that after living so many, a single year could feel so long.” 

He was still standing on the walkway behind her. “Yeah. It’s strange.” 

“I thought it would have been better.” 

He furrowed his brow and stepped towards her. “What do you mean?” 

Lucretia laughed under her breath, melancholy twisting the sound. “I used to daydream about bringing you all back. About how it would be water under the bridge after one year apart. Of course you’d all be angry with me, but we would be able to work through it. I never thought that it would take so long. I never thought that it’d do the damage it did.” 

“You didn’t do all that damage.” Magnus stepped into view beside her. 

She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “But the damage that was done wouldn’t have been had I not fed the journals to Fisher. I don’t  _ regret  _ it. We saved the world, if you want to say it like that.” 

“Well, we did.” 

“I did what I had to. I just never thought I’d end up being on the fringe forever because of it.” 

He reached for her face and guided her chin up to look at him beneath the light of two moons. She leaned into the touch. 

“It’s not perfect, but it’s only been a year. For us, that’s a long time, but for elves, for liches… it’s pocket change. We have to give them time.” 

She sniffed, turning from his touch to hide her tears. “I know. I’m trying so hard but-- I don’t know. It’s foolish.” 

“Please, tell me.” His voice was so gentle. 

She pursed her lips and placed her hands on a post holding the rope in place. “It’s so lonely, Magnus.” It left her in a rush. Her cheeks flushed as she hung her head. “I thought it was going to be over but now it’s not, and I don’t know what to do. So I’m just trying to give you all time but I can’t even do that.” 

“You gave me time, and it meant a lot to me.” 

They fell silent for a long time, watching the water just barely lapping against the wall below. 

“Remember how we used to stay up all night? When we’d go for walks in the middle of the night and watch the stars?” Magnus asked, finally breaking the silence. His arm brushed hers. 

“Yes, I do.” Her lip quivered.

“I miss those days sometimes. As bad as most of them were, I wish we could go back. I guess it’s selfish.” 

She looked up at their second moon. So many thoughts spun through her head, of the Institute, the Starblaster, her family, her lover. Her years and years without them all.  “No, I feel that way too. I’m sorry.” She reached up and hastily wiped tears from her eyes before they had a chance to fall. 

“Luce,” Magnus whispered, reaching for her wrist to wipe them himself, but she turned away. 

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to do this tonight. I didn’t want to cry.” The four glasses of wine had more of an effect than she’d thought they would. 

“It’s okay. Do you want to keep walking? Would that help?” 

She nodded and huddled closer to herself, regretting not wearing a cloak. She hadn’t been planning on being outside in the middle of the night by the water. As they started to head back down the path, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and slowed his pace to walk a step behind her. He draped the jacket over her shoulders and she shrugged into it. It was warm, and it smelled of him. She thought, for just a moment, if she couldn’t be close to him this would be just as well; wrapped in the feeling of him. 

For just a moment, she’s nineteen. She’s wearing his red, unbuttoned jacket, both of them drunk and thinking of their journey that will begin in the morning. She’s on her tiptoes and kissing his cheek. 

“Hey, that’s a rental, so don’t go ripping the sleeves off.” 

She laughed through her tears, feeling the sadness melting away at the warmth of his teasing. He had always had a way of picking her up when she was falling apart. “I think that’s more your speed. Remember the cycle you had me sew them back on?” 

“I didn’t think it was gonna be so cold!” His laugh boomed through the walkway and against the tall stone walls of the hotel. She remembered, for the first time in a long time, just how much she had missed the sound. 

A faraway voice called out from somewhere above them. “Hey, some of us are trying to catch some shuteye!” 

Magnus and Lucretia looked up in unison to see Lup leaning over the edge of her small balcony a few stories above. Magnus laughed again, just as loud. “Elves don’t even sleep Lulu!” 

“Magnus?” she warned against the nickname. “No no.” 

“What are you gonna do about it?” 

Lup made a sound so they’d know she was sticking her tongue out. “Cast levitate and come down there myself to kick your--” 

Barry came out onto the balcony behind Lup. “Really though, I was asleep until you--” 

“Nerd alert!” Magnus called, imitating Lup while cupping his hands around his mouth.

Lup kissed Barry’s cheek with a loud smacking of her lips. “Keep it down, punks.” Lup hesitated for a moment as Barry ducked back into their room. She waved to Lucretia and she waved back. “Hey babe? Nice moves. It was good to see you dancing.” 

“Thank you. I had a nice time.” 

“Loosen up, babe. Don't sound so serious!” Lup sang. She was still a little drunk, too.

Lucretia opened her mouth to say something back, but came up empty. It’d been so long since Lup had just… joked around with her. Even Barry had come out to see them without any malice. At least, not that she could see.

“For real though, Mags, the night is young but some of us are old as hell. God knows Barold needs his beauty sleep.” She hooted with laughter as Barry called something to her from inside. “Goodnight, Lucy.” Lup said, her call softening a little bit as it carried her nickname down to her. 

She wanted to call back up to her, to tell her that she missed her, that she so badly wanted their long nights and their shared secrets and their sisterhood back, but it all got jumbled in her mouth. Lup was already gone. 

They continued down the walkway in silence and turned the corner to the front side of the hotel, lit up with soft blue and white lights to match the palette of the wedding. As they walked by the entrance, he glanced over at her, finding her still huddled in his too-big jacket.

Magnus looked up at the tall building, admiring the architecture as they strolled along. “Lup told me she misses you, you know.” 

Lucretia said nothing, only looking out across the lawn to the fountain in the center of the courtyard. 

“Time… it’s not gonna heal it all, but it’ll heal some of it. And sometimes that has to be enough.” 

Her throat felt tight. “Yes, I know.” 

They were quiet for a long time, letting the weight of his words settle in between them. She wondered if that healing would ever come, or if it’d ever  _ really _ be enough. Her mind wandered back to their family, and then to Taako, as it almost always did in her guilt.

“Are you sleeping with him?” she asked softly. 

He let out a long sigh. “I… yeah. Sometimes.” 

“Does Kravitz…?” 

“Yeah, he knows.”  

She played with the sleeve of his jacket with a nervous hand. “I don’t want to get in the middle of--” 

“No, no,” he stopped her. “It’s not. You’re not. It’s… complicated.” 

A hundred years had taught her not to ask. 

Magnus sighed again. “I just… I don’t know. I’m somewhere else with him. I’m never quite sure where.” 

“It’s okay. I don’t hold it against you, I mean…” 

“He’s familiar. I’m sorry, I know it’s probably not what you wanna hear.” 

“I’m glad you’re seeing him again. I mean, not that you weren’t at the Bureau…” 

A loud laugh burst suddenly from him, all the way from his belly. “You knew! The whole time?” 

She smirked. “Oh, you think I didn’t know the way you look at him the morning after? How many times did you touch his shoulder after you brought him his coffee in the dining hall?” 

He chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re good.” 

“Well, after being around you both for so long, you learn to look for the little things. Especially because getting a confession out of either of you used to be so hard.” She looked up at the night sky and folded her arms over her chest. 

He was quieter when he spoke again. “Funny how we all kind of found each other again, in some way…” 

“Yeah,” she breathed. 

She glanced at him, feeling wobbly again. She wanted those words to mean more than she thought they did. 

Sensing that she needed something to hang onto, he held out his arm. She silently linked it with her own. Despite the chaos of her thoughts, a small smile touched her lips.

“It’s so late. It has to be two by now.” But still, she walked beside him, holding tight to his sturdy forearm. 

“One lap, remember? We’re almost there.”  

They rounded the corner to walk down the other side of the hotel, back towards the abandoned dance floor. The pathway was darker than the opposite side, cast with shadows save for the soft light that spilled from scattered windows of guests still awake. 

They walked in silence. She didn’t know what else to say. 

Finally, halfway down the path, he spoke. “I’m sorry, about how I left things. I know it doesn’t feel good to just hear someone tell you over and over that they need more time. I probably made you feel really shitty, and that’s not cool.” 

“You didn’t. It’s really okay.” 

“I.. I meant what I said before, about how time heals things. It just sucks when the time it takes is just… super long. With Taako it’s… different. There’s a whole other set of things to unpack there, but he’s not asking for… I don’t know. I don’t get the feeling that you’d be satisfied with just a casual night here and there.” 

She loosened her grip on his arm instinctively, already trying to detach herself before this went spinning out of her hands and down the drain again, like it always did when they spoke like this. Her mind swam with the voices of her loneliness that always came back each time he reached out to her in any capacity. Her voice wavered, speaking over all the others in her mind. “Yeah.” 

“But you don’t have to be alone.” 

She slowed to a stop, her hand just barely lingering on his forearm. 

“I’ve been thinking about things-- everything, I guess-- and at the end of the day, if we don’t all have each other, who else do we have?” He took his hand from hers and reached to thumb her cheekbone. “You think you don’t belong, but you do. You’re still our Lucretia.” 

She couldn’t help it this time. She started to cry. 

“Still my Lucy.” 

Her heart pulled in a hundred different directions. “Magnus--” she exhaled in warning, pulling out of his reach, shaking her head as she wept. “Please, please, I--” 

He ran a hand through his hair. “No, I... I’ve been thinking a lot about it. About everything, since the last time I saw you. I asked for more time, and you gave it to me. The least I can do is offer some kind of response.” 

Her heart froze. 

“Those hundred years, it was such a long time and most days I can’t even wrap my head around it. I mean, that’s a whole entire lifetime, if you’re lucky.” He looked at her while she stared down at the ground. “I loved you for so long that I forgot what it felt like not to. And then I forgot what it felt like altogether.” 

“Magnus--” 

He continued despite her watery warning. “And then I met Jules, and I remembered. And then I lost her, and I just… I needed time. I still do. That’s something that won’t go away.” 

Lucretia leaned against the cold stone wall of the hotel beside her and took a deep breath in. “I understand.”

“That doesn't mean…” She could tell he was having a hard time finding the words. “I've been trying to reconcile all the things I feel. I can't forget Julia, but I can't forget how I loved you, either. It’s just really, really hard. And it’s something that nobody else can really understand. I love Julia, and I always will. But I left the other half of my heart with you a long time ago.” 

She felt herself frozen in place against the wall. She wished herself invisible, or unbreakable, or without a memory of their love. It would have made his words so much easier to hear, knowing that inevitably he was going to let her go again, perhaps for good this time, after having so much time to think about what she’d done to them. To their love.

“I've been thinking about it for a while now.” He hesitated, then turned to her and wiped yet another tear from her face. Before she could pull away for sake of self preservation, he moved closer to speak softly to her. “A whole other lifetime is too long to spend alone.” 

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He leaned in closer, smelling of cider and sweat and cologne.  _ This can't be real. It can't be.  _

His lips were just above hers, hovering near her nose. His breath warmed her cheeks.

“What are you saying?” she breathed, heart hammering. 

“I'm saying, maybe it's been enough time. Maybe it's time we try again.” 

“Do you mean that?” she whispered. Her lips brushed his. He nodded and it stole the breath from her lungs. It was the last place she’d expected the night to go. The last thing she’d ever expected him to say. 

He kissed her, and for the first time in over thirteen years, she felt nothing but joy. 

As he pulled away, she heard his breath tremble in his throat, the signature precursor to his tears. “I’m sorry I made you wait.” 

She shook her head and kissed him again, and again, and again. “I’d wait forever for you.” Her heart swelled in her chest as she took his face into her hands, running her fingers through his sideburns and then his hair, and looked up at him in wonder. “I swear, this is a dream.” 

“I promise it’s not.” 

“I never thought this would happen. Never in a--” she stopped short. 

A grin broke out across his face. “Never in a hundred years?” 

She knocked her forehead against his and kissed him through both their wide smiles. It was the same as always but somehow entirely new, this feeling of embracing someone she’d known forever but had only just met, or coming home to a place she’d never been before. She pulled herself flush to him, her hand wrapping around his tie and tugging it loose in the process. He exhaled in a rush, still smirking, and gently guided her back to the stone wall. Her name fell from his lips like rain until it overflowed in the space between them and carried her away. 

She kissed him harder as he pushed forward and pinned her between himself and the brick behind her. And so came the return of his name, given freely and without the weight of secrets and betrayals and the passing of time. She kissed him because she could, because she wanted to, because she loved him. He snaked a hand down to her lower back and pulled her hips close, tilting them slightly upwards towards his own. For a moment, she became aware of just how much she’d missed his body. She hadn’t allowed herself to since the last time they’d slept together, promising that it meant closure, that it meant it was the last time. She’d never been so glad to have been proven wrong. 

He slid a hand up her back, then back down, humming in satisfaction as she arched away from the wall and against him. She broke their kiss to whisper his name. Seizing the opportunity, he craned down to kiss down her neck, focusing on the spot just below her ear that he knew would drive her crazy. 

She ran her fingers through his hair, then tugged to pull him closer, closer still, as his teeth dragged just barely over her skin. 

“It’s been so long,” she murmured, turning to place clumsy kisses in his hair. The desire to be as close to him as possible was overwhelming. He hummed a sound of confirmation and backed her flush to the wall. One big hand slid up her side and cupped her breast. Her sharp gasp at the touch was enough to tell him he was doing something right. “Oh, Gods,” she breathed. 

“I know I’m good, but you can just call me Magnus,” he murmured behind her ear between kisses that sent her laughing and shivering alike. 

“Shut up,” she chuckled. 

He looked up and met her mouth again with a deep kiss. “You could shut me up.” 

Behind the smile that teased her lips, there was nothing but want. She pushed up to kiss him again and he wasted no time, trailing his tongue along her bottom lip. A moan slipped from her and opened her mouth just enough to tangle with his. 

His hands were everywhere: her chest, her back, her ass. A yelp melted into a moan and back into a smile as he groped, but she found no grin in return. She tried to pull away to get a look at him, but only caught a glimpse of the starving look that had taken his eyes as he went back down to kissing her neck, then her collarbone. 

She tugged slightly on a handful of his hair and he groaned. There was so much of this that she remembered. There was so much to discover that was new. 

She hesitated against him for just a moment. “Magnus?” 

He pulled away immediately to look at her, the rise and fall of his chest rapid from their show of affection. “Are you okay?” 

She nodded and drew him in close again by his shirt, leaning lazily against the wall. A few gentle kisses made their way from her lips and up the side of his neck. He groaned softly. 

“Do you want to go upstairs?” she whispered, so soft that he barely caught her words. He nodded, lips parted, heavy-lidded. “Let’s go.” 

They separated and he immediately entwined his fingers in hers, leading her back around the hotel and to the entrance once more. Her heart leapt with every step they took and every squeeze of his hand. As they crossed the chandelier-lit and cream-colored marble lobby, he laughed, and she laughed too. And they kept laughing. And they were still a little drunk, still happy, still so young at heart. 

He snatched two hard candies from the bowl by the elevator. 

“Save it for later. I wanna kiss you again.” 

She looked at the red cellophane and remembered the days when the pockets of all his jackets and robes were full of hard candies; the year he died on the mushroom world because he forgot to keep his mask on and ate one. It was all so long ago; at least they could laugh about it now. She slipped the sweets into his jacket pocket, still wrapped around her, for later. 

Magnus hit the “UP” button a few more times, impatient with the time it was taking for the thing to return from one of the top floors. He took the time to place a hand on her waist and traced circles with his thumb, looping between her hip and the small of her back. His hand lingered along her curves beneath his jacket. 

He chuckled under his breath, drawing her into his chest so he could murmur to her, “Hey, do you still have butt dimples?” 

“I didn’t lose  _ everything  _ to time, Magnus,” she said, deadpan.  

His laugh echoed off the marble floor of the lobby, punctuated by the  _ ding!  _ of the elevator’s arrival. He held an arm out to let her inside first. 

“Such a gentleman,” she smirked as he stepped in and the doors slid shut. “You--” 

He pushed her to the wall and covered her mouth with his before she could finish her thought. She made a small noise of exclamation before leaning into the kiss herself. 

“Magnus,” she hissed through a smile before he kissed her again. “What if someone else--?” 

“Oh, come on, Luce. We’ve been waaay riskier than making out in an elevator.” 

She couldn’t help but laugh into his mouth, shaking her head before his lips continued their journey down to her jaw, then her neck once again. His hands followed, groping even more than they had been outside. He palmed her ass, pulling her hips flush to his, and squeezed. Lucretia couldn’t stop the squeak that left her and made her blush with equal parts embarrassment and arousal. 

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed. The elevator slowed to a stop and dinged for their floor. “Come on.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WHOLE CHAPTER IS PORN SO IF THAT'S NOT YOUR GAME..... SORRY

He led her through the hallway of endless beige doors and elegant blue and umber carpet. It reminded her of the Bureau. (Of home? The feeling had resonated first. Wasn’t the Starblaster home?) 

(Maybe it was just Magnus.) 

He stopped at his door and fumbled with his pockets for a moment. “The key’s in the jacket, babe.” 

A split second of surprise widened both of their eyes at the sound of the petname that’d left him so naturally. She reached into the pocket opposite the hard candy and handed him the key in a bit of a rush. 

He walked in the door and loosened his crooked tie. She looked around the room to find it in usual Magnus fashion: clothes scattered everywhere, bag open on the floor, a whittling knife and shavings on the desk, and a small pile of hard candy. 

She cocked a brow. “Did you steal those from the lobby?” 

Magnus looked up from toeing out of his dress shoes. “It’s not stealing if you’re staying  _ in  _ the hotel!” 

She chuckled and shrugged out of the jacket, taking the two sweets out of his pocket to add to the pile, then hung it on the back of the chair. She left her heels under the desk and reached up to unclasp her necklace. After struggling for a moment, she felt his work-hardened hands take the delicate chain and free her with ease. His hands lingered over the delicate skin of her neck for just a moment, then lightly ghosted the knot of her spine beneath the surface with a gentle finger. 

She felt breathless as he slipped away and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Come here,” he hummed, and she turned to face him to find him with his arms outstretched. He’d undone a few buttons on his dress shirt, showing the undershirt beneath it. 

She closed the space between them and leaned in between his knees to accept his embrace from the edge of the bed. She cradled his head lovingly in her hands as he slumped down against her chest, carding through his hair gently, then scratching her nails lightly to make him shiver. She smirked to herself as, sure enough, he did.

He looked up and propped his chin on her stomach. “I missed you,” he murmured. She cupped his face in her palm and brushed her thumb over his cheekbone. 

“I missed you too.” She leaned down to kiss him as she whispered back, punctuating each long kiss with a shorter, sweeter peck. “It was hard not having you around.” 

He reached up to smooth his hands up and down her back. The feeling of his hands on her back where her dress and her skin met sent a wave of electric heat through her chest and down to her hips. She kissed him again, slipping her tongue along his lip for just a moment to deepen the embrace. 

“Oh, Luce,” he breathed, barely audible. That was all he had to say. 

She pulled back so he’d release her from his grasp, then she knelt down to unbutton his shirt, taking her time as he shifted in semi-impatience. As soon as it was unbuttoned, he shrugged out of it and cast it aside, then pulled off his undershirt in a rush. 

Her hands reached out for his belt, but she hesitated for a moment and caught his eye. 

“I… are you sure?” he asked, eyes soft with concern. 

She touched the metal of the buckle with a timid finger. “Do you really mean it? That you want to try again? Because I can't-- I can't wake up tomorrow to you saying this was a drunken mistake. It'll… I don't know. I can't do that.” She withheld the thoughts about how much it would break her, the hurt and shame she felt when it so much as crossed her mind.

He cupped her chin in his palm and lifted her face. As he brushed a thumb over her lips, she kissed it. “I mean it. I want this. All of this.” 

She nodded in a rush of emotion that unpaused her desire and unbuckled his belt. 

She guided him up from the bed with her and finished pulling away his pants. When she stood up, she smirked as his eyes followed her. Standing before him, she peeled herself from her silken dress with ease and let it slip to a pool at her ankles. 

The look on his face was indescribable. Wonder, fondness, amazement, love. A blind man seeing for the first time. The return of a most precious memory thought to be long-forgotten. 

He reached out for her waist, but she dipped from his reach and sunk to her knees with a smile. She splayed her hands over his thighs, moving slowly down along the sides down to his knees, then back up again. The feeling of her nails just barely trailing along his skin made him breathless. She kissed down his stomach and hips, then worked downward to trail kisses on the soft skin of his thighs. A beat of remembrance passed between them:  _ oh, yes, that.  _ He hummed as she kissed the sensitive skin and the sound made her blush. This was familiar now: the smile on his face, the warmth in his voice. This was the Magnus she knew, returned to her for good this time.

His palm smoothed over her scalp and easily took a handful of her hair, tangling his fingers and tugging just a little bit; just enough to make her moan. He pulled her back slightly so she would look up from kissing his thighs long enough to meet his eyes. Despite the mild ache of being on her knees, she looked… hungry. He loosened his grip with a self-conscious smile. “Baby, you don’t have--” 

“Please,” she interrupted, looking up at him from her position on her knees. Gods, he looked so  _ big.  _ Like he could just scoop her up and toss her onto the bed behind them and...

“Lucy,” he panted as she pulled herself from her thoughts and took a hold of his length in her hand. “You don’t--” 

“I want to, Magnus,” she soothed. Her free hand reached up and just barely trailed over his belly, taking care to comb through the trail of dark auburn hair on her way back down. “Please let me.” 

She took him into both of her hands, waiting for his permission. He wavered above her; the moan that was trying to escape from his throat came out as a whimper. 

Her thumb trailed over the head and, practically squirming, he looked up at the ceiling instead of down at her. With a secretive smile she noted the deep red flush from his chest to his face. “Okay. Yeah.” 

She slid her lips over him in that same instant, taking him into her mouth. She moved slowly, easing in, then out, then in again. Her tongue darted out along the head as she pulled back and he moaned, deep and reflexive. The sound shocked her into a faster pace. Her head bobbed a bit as he took her deeper. He looked down to watch and held her head closer by the handful of her hair. 

She took him all the way into her mouth. If he were any bigger, she would choke. He reached his hand out to get another hand in her hair, but she raised her palm to meet him and looped her fingers between his with tenderness. He moaned again as he held himself steady between her hand and her scalp. 

She took this chance to release him for a moment and move beneath him to trail her tongue from base to tip. It became clear just how aroused he was as she took him back into her hand and felt him twitching in her grasp and she grinned. He had always been so sensitive. So easy to please. She moved to take him back into her mouth but stopped and looked up as a breathy groan left him in a rush and caught her attention. His eyes were desperate, begging for something. Anything. 

She smirked to herself. He grimaced as she slid her hand down the length of him, leaving him throbbing in her palm. 

“Please, Lucy,” he panted, nearly unintelligible. She sucked the tip gently and began to move her hand up and down and suddenly he was reeling. Her hand released his and joined her other in her determination to pleasure him. “Please,” He groaned again, and his other hand gripped her curls even tighter. “Oh,  _ fuck.”  _

The curse sent her into a frenzy, taking him deep into her mouth, but he used both of his hands buried in her hair to pull her away. Their eyes met for a long moment, just staring, both of them practically gasping for breath. 

“Come here,” he managed to exhale, tugging just slightly upward on her hair so she would move to stand. As she stood up, a quiet laugh filled the space between them. He smiled slightly, still blushing. “What is it?” 

“I’m not twenty anymore.” She shook her head. They’d had this conversation before, but it had always ended tearfully. This time she was smiling. “Neither are my knees.” 

He laughed and gathered her up into his arms for a kiss, despite the slight slick of spit on her cheek that she hadn’t wiped away. His body pressed to her own so well, made perfect by the way his mouth met hers, over and over, as he slid his hands over the soft lines of her back.“That’s okay. It’s nice to… get old. To see you older. Never thought I’d see the day.” 

A beat of silence passed between them as the memory of their immortal youth commanded their attention. “I miss it, sometimes. Is that so strange?” 

He chuckled as he guided her backwards to the bed. “Being twenty? Yeah, me too.” 

“Shut up.” She laughed, then put a hand on his chest, looking down and then up. “No, just, I don’t know. Those days. The Starblaster.” 

“I do too.”

She paused for a moment to take in the sight of his face. The black eye she’d come to expect at every cycle’s reset was gone, long replaced by the scar of a blade that had nicked his eyebrow and narrowly avoided taking out his eye. She reached up and ghosted two fingers over the old mark. She leaned up towards him and caressed down the side of his face. His breath fanning warmly over her cheekbones, both of them breathing shallow and in unison, he spoke softly to her. “Can I make love to you?” 

Her legs felt weak. It’d been so long since she heard him say those words. Instead of an answer, she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him with a languid press of her mouth to his. For once, he was the one left hesitating. She nodded slightly, and felt him smile into another kiss in return. 

He watched as she pulled away and turned to get into bed, settling back among the pillows and moving the blankets aside to welcome him in. “Come here,” she said softly with a smirk and a beckon. Playful and sweet, like they were young again. He obliged, crawling up to her until he hovered above her on hands and knees. “That’s more like it,” she smirked. He kissed the tip of her nose. 

She held his gaze as his big, gentle hand moved over her stomach and settled in the valley between her hips. Her shallow breath drew his attention. 

“Lucretia,” he sighed, kissing her cheek. The sound of her name on his breath felt like home. 

She turned to press her forehead to his. “That’s me,” she smiled. 

He kissed her, breathy and soft, as he slid his hand down between her legs and parted them to find her slick already for him. He said nothing, only grinned against her lips, which sent her head spinning. As he moved to position himself between her legs, he hesitated for just a moment, catching the tiny hitch in her breath as his fingers shifted against her. 

He hummed, a soft, knowing sound. 

She arched just slightly enough to press herself against his hand. As if by instinct, he slipped a finger between her folds and stroked slowly, then circled a finger around her clit with a feather-light touch. 

“If this is what you wanted, you could have just asked,” he murmured and nuzzled against her nose. The sincerity and tenderness in his voice made up for the teasing lilt of his words. 

She moaned, unable to come up with any response. In those years on the Starblaster, he would have teased her forever, drawn out every touch and kiss until she was wet and trembling with want. Tonight, he didn’t have to. She was already there. 

“Hmm, come here.” He pushed himself up and rested back on his knees, waiting for her to do the same. He patted a playful hand on his thigh and waited for her to turn around and join him. She scooted back so she was in his lap, his cock pressed between her ass and his stomach, and lolled her head back into the hollow of his shoulder. 

He looked down at her with a crooked smile. Her favorite, forever. She smiled back. 

“You ready?” 

She wavered as his hand, still wet from the momentary foray, slid down her abdomen and down against her pubic bone. “Yes,” she moaned lavishly, knowing exactly what was coming next. 

His strong arms held her steady, wrapped under her arms and around her body. He wasted little time; she’d been ready for this since they’d crossed the threshold of his room. As she shuddered against him, he slid one thick finger down from her clit and then inside of her. Her sharp gasp cut through the quiet room. 

And yes,  _ oh, there, _ it was good. It was so good she could hardly take it. She buckled against his hand in hopes that he’d continue hitting just the right spot on the first try. He still had it. For a passing moment, she wondered if it  _ was _ muscle memory. There had been so much time for practice; did he ever really forget?

“Another,” she whispered urgently, looking up for a kiss. He obliged to both requests and kissed her deeply while sliding a second finger inside. On reflex, she let out a loud moan. His fingers felt nothing short of incredible inside of her. “Oh, yes, honey, please, _ ”  _ she breathed raggedly. He used his other hand to press down on the soft skin between her hips and the pressure sent her reeling. His hands had always kept her under his spell, rough and strong and sturdy. She reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair. 

He curled his fingers experimentally and and stroked firmly downward. The sound she made in response was ungodly. 

“There’s my girl,” Magnus chuckled, hoarse but gleeful, and repeated the motion. Each movement brought her closer and closer to orgasm, one that she wasn’t at all ready to have. Her hand curled tightly into his hair while the other moved to grip tightly to his thigh. 

“Mag,” she panted. “Magnus, Magnus, wait.” 

He stopped as she asked and pulled his hand away. After taking a moment to collect herself, she turned on her trembling legs to fall back against the pillows. He followed her down and leaned over her. 

Lucretia reached up and  took his chin in her hand to pull him in, first looking into his eyes and then kissing him deeply. His hand hovered over her abdomen as he brought it back up her body. As he reached her neck he took pause, noting that his fingers were once again slick from her. 

She slipped her hand over his and tugged it towards her, pulling his index finger into her mouth as she gazed up at him. “ _ Fuck,”  _ he shuddered. He leaned back slightly so he was upright again and looked down to watch her as she sucked, lapping up the taste of herself on his rough, warm fingers. She hummed appreciatively with a smirk as the sounds he made became a little more incoherent. An arched brow in his direction made him blush an even deeper red. He leaned down so they were chest-to-chest again, his fingers still getting the star treatment from her tongue. “After that, I could probably come just from this,” he admitted. A chuckle, punctuated by a barely-there whimper, rumbled warm in his chest. 

She let his hand go and a gossamer thread of saliva remained between her lip and his fingers for just a moment. She was acutely aware of his erection straining between their bellies. “I won’t do that to you,” she murmured as he thumbed her bottom lip. “Yet.” 

He laughed. Gods, he was so handsome. 

They shifted in the quiet of the bedroom with only a few giggles and sighs until he was positioned on top of her. His hands parted her legs a little wider and he dwelled for just a moment in the memory of the soft skin of her thighs. So much had changed, everything had changed, but in this way she was still the same. He loved her. 

His breath left him in a rush as the length of him brushed against the inside of her thigh and he took himself into his hand. 

“Can I?” he whispered, looking down at her in wonder. 

“Yes, Magnus.” She beamed with a nod and her fondest smile. 

He guided himself against her and got himself slick, then slid the head against her clit. The way she bit down on her lip caught his attention, but he moved his focus back to teasing her and pressed himself to her entrance. She sucked in a sharp breath. He slid back up to her clit, and then down again. His own breathing grew just as jagged as Lucretia’s at the motion. 

“Please,” she panted, completely unraveled at his touch. “I need you.” 

He said nothing in reply, only positioned himself perfectly over her with labored breaths. As she reached up to smooth a hand through the hair on his chest, she caught a glimpse of his face in the low light of the room. His eyes were closed, his jaw clenched, looking as if he were silently begging for mercy. Or release. She’d be sure to give him the latter. 

His jaw twitched as she slid a hand up and over his neck, dragging her nails over the sensitive skin. “Come on,” she purred. 

He pushed inside her and they moaned in unison. 

“Oh my god, Luce.” He opened his eyes and focused on her face below him. Her lips were parted, eyes heavy-lidded with lust. As he slid deeper inside with each stroke, her head rolled back against the pillows. “Like this?” 

She could barely get the word out. “ _ Yes.”  _

He went to work as they fell into a familiar rhythm, never quite forgotten. Their hips rolled in time and it brought him deeper, deeper still, filling her to a point of perfect satisfaction. He reached every place within her she’d been aching for for months, for years. Everything about tonight was the antithesis of the last night they’d slept together, fumbling as if they were saying goodbye and putting their feelings to rest forever. 

She was so glad they hadn’t. 

“You’re so fucking good,” he breathed as he thrust into her again. 

She reached up eagerly and pulled him down into a kiss. All the while, his hips rutted in the same rhythm, keeping them moving together at the same pace. He panted against her open mouth as she reached down to touch herself. 

“Let me,” he insisted, reaching for her wrist. And there was his hand again, finding her clit instantly and rolling it gently between two sturdy fingers. 

“ _ Oh.”  _ she shuddered. There it was; this was right. This was what she remembered, what she had never really forgotten, what she had tried too many times to recreate but could never get just right without his hands there. She squirmed as he swirled a practiced finger around her clit, then again with more pressure. Then again, again, again. She moved her hips in time with his. “Oh, there,” she gasped. “Please don’t stop.” 

He said nothing, only letting out a something close to a growl as he leaned into her to bite and kiss her neck. 

His name came pouring from her mouth as he applied just a little more pressure to her clit and thrust just a little bit harder. Looking over at him to pull him in to kiss him deeply again made her heart hammer wildly in her chest (if it hadn’t been already.) 

She tried to cry out as her orgasm built quickly within her as a pooling of heat in the valley of her hips, but the sound was lost in the force of his kisses. She was so close, teetering on the very edge of the cliff, trying to draw it out as long as she could. If the feeling of him hadn’t been so overwhelming, she would have sealed the memory away forever: Magnus, finally home for good, pulling her in again like gravity. 

She moaned his name again and again, practically cross-eyed with the way he was keeping her steadily on the edge of her orgasm. He smiled into her neck. With a well-hidden strain in his voice, he murmured at her ear, because it felt right, because she needed to know: “I love you.” 

She couldn’t reply. She only whimpered and turned to bury her face in his hair with her arm hooked around the back of his neck. He was so close to her, so intimately pressed to every curve of her body. And now, he’d never be far from her again. She whined as he eased up on her clit with her fingers, then shuddered as he traced them around lightly, faster than before. He kept pace and kissed her neck and praised her by name, his smile visible in the sound of his voice and his sounds despite her having screwed her eyes shut. And then, all at once,  _ finally,  _ her whole body seized with electricity and heat and want. Wave after wave of bliss and satisfaction rolled through her and she quaked against him, clinging tight. He carried her through her climax, consistent but gentle in touch and word alike. She barely heard him. The rumble of his voice brought her back into his orbit and slowly opened her eyes. 

He pushed up slightly to look down at her. His thrusts had slowed, but not stopped entirely. He still hadn’t finished. As the last tremors of her orgasm left her, despite feeling entirely sapped of energy and ability to move by the force of it, she rolled her hips forward to meet him again. He moaned loudly. 

“Don’t worry, Magnus,” she murmured, pulling him back down to her for a kiss. “You’ll get yours.” 

A smile twitched on his lips but vanished as his mouth fell open for another involuntary moan. “You feel so--” He was still trying to wax poetic about her while he was about to come. She smiled and slid her hand up into his hair. 

“Hush,” she breathed. “You’re so good to me. Oh, so good, Magnus.” 

“Luce--” 

“Give it to me,” she rasped. She’d meant for it to be a request, but it left her as a command. Magnus didn’t seem to mind.  _ “Yes.”  _

“Fuck--” he groaned, fucking faster, using one broad hand to lift her hips to create more friction between them. She ground hard against him. They sounded of skin and wet and moans and sighs and his moans that now filled the room. “Oh, fuck, I’m--” 

She gasped as he pulled from her abruptly and stroked himself against her thigh, slick hot and wet from her still. He shuddered and groaned and she felt the sticky warmth on her skin before she saw it. She couldn’t take her eyes from his face; his eyes were shut and his brow drawn up into the limbo of mercy and relief. His open mouth bore heaving breaths that echoed in his chest and shoulders. The last of it trembled through him and he eased himself back on top of her, beside her, then pulled her in as close as he could from behind. 

He exhaled, sounding winded.  _ “Lucy.”  _

“Mmm?” 

“Holy shit.” 

She laughed, unburdened by grief for the first time in years. “Yeah.  _ Yeah.”  _

“Gods. You’re so beautiful.” 

Of course that was the first thing out of his mouth. Old feelings were all bubbling to the surface now: adoration, fondness, love… The afterglow had always elicited that from her. She shifted against him and turned so she could face him and press her nose to his. 

“And you are so handsome.” She kissed him. “And sweet.” She kissed him again. “And so, so good to me…” 

He leaned forward for a hungrier kiss that turned her stomach with want. She was sure that they’d be at it again before the sun came up. Which, at this point in the wee hours, wasn’t very long from now anyway. 

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Magnus sighed in disbelief against her cheek. He nuzzled into her and his sideburns, mussed from her tugging, tickled her skin. “Wow.  _ Wow.”  _

She giggled. She felt like a girl again, falling in love on an impossible ship in an impossible place with an impossible boy. 

“You can say that again.” 

“Wow!” Magnus repeated and grinned wide. Her heart felt whole. 

She tugged softly on his hand as she wrapped it in hers. “Let’s go shower.”

“Together?” he asked, feigning ignorance. Her laugh didn’t break his facade. She used her other hand to sneak between the mattress and his side to tickle him. He laughed and wriggled away from her touch. “Okay! Okay, just five more minutes.” 

She tucked herself back into his body and let him fold himself around her. He rested his chin on top of her head. 

“I love you, Magnus,” she said. “Thank you.” 

“For what?” 

She paused. “For this. I don’t know, for… a new start.” 

“We’ve had a hundred new starts. I think there’s room for one more.” And Magnus took her head into the palm of his hand and tucked her in closer to him, murmuring some long-remembered song from their year spent at the conservatory. She’d taught Magnus the melody, then they’d take turns singing it to Fisher. She carried every year of their lives with her. Even the years they were apart, and the years when he didn’t know her name. And now she could return them. Ask him to shoulder their weight. 

She was relieved. And she was in love, wholly and finally. 

“I love you,” Magnus returned her initial words of affection and sealed them with a kiss on her forehead. “You know what else I would love?” 

“What’s that?” 

She felt the cheeky grin against her scalp before he spoke. “A hard candy?” 

She pulled away from him in laughter, shaking her head. She cast a small, lazy mage hand to retrieve a piece of candy for each of them: strawberry (complete with the green and red seeded wrapper that  _ looked  _ like a strawberry,) for Lucretia, and sour lemon for magnus. She flicked her wrist and flung them both at his head. 

He caught them in midair and handed her the red candy. “Still don’t know how you eat these.” 

“Don’t you love  _ all  _ hard candy?” 

“I do, but these are  _ grandma  _ candy.” 

Lucretia unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. She cocked her head thoughtfully as she spoke. “I mean, I am almost 132 years old.” 

Magnus grinned, the kind of grin that he broke into when he thought of a good joke but had yet to tell it. He had a terrible poker face. “You don’t look a day over 120.” 

She laughed and smacked his arm. He chomped down on his candy, but then immediately made a face because it was too sour. Why did he always do that? 

She watched him in bemusement before he met her gaze and bent down to kiss her. His lips were sour, but she didn’t mind. 

“Alright. Shower.” 

“Just one more candy?” 

“Shower!” 

“Alright, alright!” He rolled out of bed and walked to the bathroom in front of her. 

She grabbed two more candies from the table, and, with a grin, closed the door behind them. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chap briefly references events of [the long-sleeping feeling of longing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11935788) (NSFW) 
> 
> thanks (pretty much as always) to @epersonae for the edits on this one! glad to say i saw this fic through. i put a lot of work (and love) into it, and she (and emi as well!!!) carried it through with their writerly wisdom. 
> 
> this one is sweet, and it makes me smile. i hope it does the same for you!!

She woke up nestled against him in the morning, tangled in their ivory sheets and sore from the evening prior. She noticed first the aching of her bottom lip, and then as she opened her eyes to the sunlight that had overpowered the matching cream curtains, the mild headache just behind behind her forehead. She had the wine to thank for that. And probably their second romp last night, when he had flipped her over too fast and she'd smacked her head on the wooden headboard. They'd collapsed in breathless laughter. It was worth the headache.

She looked up at Magnus who was still sleeping peacefully. Well, as peaceful as Magnus ever slept, which was to say that he was unconscious and snoring like a bear, and anyone else in the room was doomed to a sleepless night. Lucky for her, she'd grown used to sleeping with the sound. So much so, in fact, that her first few months alone were largely restless without his sounds and his warmth.

Those cycles he'd died early on were very much the same. Sleepless, cold, and empty. 

But he was here now, and she was overwhelmed with joy. She reached out to touch his cheek just to make sure it was all real. The scar over his eye where that old black eye had once been was a reminder now that things had changed. But that didn't mean that new things couldn’t arise in time.

She's grown accustomed to the nature of change over the past year. The road to her family’s forgiveness seemed unnavigable, but here she was, hungover but glowing in her first and oldest lover’s arms. Here she was, about to get dressed and go down to have a sub-par continental breakfast with whoever had decided to drag themselves out of bed before ten. Some of those people would be her old teammates, and for once, she didn't feel so afraid. 

She rolled out of bed, not bothering to take the sheet with her to cover herself. She gathered her ensemble from the night before where she had discarded it on the floor in their haste and placed it all on the desk beside what remained of his pile of hard candy. For a moment it felt like being in his room on the Starblaster again with clothes and tools and candy wrappers strewn about. She smiled fondly and bent down to take his huge dress shirt from the ground, then shrugged it onto her shoulders. It hung off her like a dress; she didn’t mind. She wrapped herself in it and returned to the bed to perch on the edge of the mattress beside him as he slept. She ran a hand over his forehead and played with his messy hair. 

“Magnuuus,” she sang softly, trailing a finger through his sideburns. “Do you want breakfast?” 

He groaned sleepily, barely rousing. 

“Sausage and bacon, and it’s free...” She sighed as he groaned again. She knew that he’d heard her. “We can split a chocolate chip muffin…” 

“I want my own,” he mumbled into the pillows. 

“Grumpy.” 

He rolled over and opened his eyes. The light in the room made him cringe. “Why did I have so much cider?” 

“You always have so much cider.” That much hadn’t changed. 

“Got me there, Luce.” He pushed himself up on one arm. She couldn’t help but catch her bottom lip with her teeth for just a moment as the muscles tensed beneath his tan skin. “Help me up.” 

“Help  _ you  _ up?” she laughed, but she stood anyway and held out her hands. He took them both and used her to only counter a little bit of his weight. He swooped up onto his feet and backed her into the wall. “It’s 9:30, Mags, we have to go or they’ll put everything away…” 

“Or, we could just stay up here,” he murmured as he craned his neck down to place lush kisses along her neck. She shivered. “Whatd’ya say? Round three?” 

“I want a muffin…” 

He chuckled, breath hot against her skin. “Luuuuucy…” 

She folded her arms as he kissed up her jaw. “How many times did we have sex last night?” 

“Two.” 

“And how many muffins did I eat last night?” 

He pecked her lips. “Dunno, what you do when I’m sleeping is your business.” 

“Zero, Magnus. I had zero muffins last night.” 

He kissed her once more, then pulled away, shaking his head with a smile. “Alright, chocolate chips win this time.” 

“And you’ll win next time. Now put some clothes on.”

* * *

The continental breakfast was more crowded than Lucretia had thought it might be. Getting up before ten didn’t seem like the pace the celebration, with all of its drinking and dancing, had set for the guests. 

Carey and Killian were unsurprisingly nowhere to be found. She wasn’t sure she’d even find them before departing; she knew she’d see them again upon their return to the Bureau after a long and well-deserved honeymoon. Merle wasn’t around either, but Lucretia was sure he’d come and gone long before everyone else had gotten up for the last leg of the free food. He did have 1,999 party points, after all, and seemed to be completely impervious to hangovers. Angus sat with Davenport and Avi at a table across the room, chatting quietly and laughing at a story Avi was telling with his hands. Barry was perusing the buffet line, looking exhausted but interested in the array of scrambled eggs and waffles below him. Lup was elsewhere, Lucretia guessed. Probably still in bed. Some Bureau employees milled about, coming and going from tables with cups of coffee and plates piled high with pastries and pancakes.

Magnus’s pinky finger was still linked with hers as they wandered into the room. As she became more aware of their surroundings, she dropped her hand from his. 

He leaned down to speak closer to her ear as he walked beside her. “Wanna grab a table? I’ll get some food.” 

She nodded, blushing a little as she realized there were  _ people  _ around. Employees who had no idea they were together. In fact, nobody really knew they were together at all. They’d heard the Story and Song, they knew that they’d fallen in love a century ago, but that was just that to them: a story. Stories had endings. Stories weren’t always real. 

She felt like pinching herself, half to remind herself that yes, this  _ is  _ real, and half to bring herself back out of the anxiety she’d started to falter into. She felt eyes on her as she moved into the room to look for an empty table that was also clean. 

As she moved to the other side of the room where there were more open seats, she spotted Taako and Kravitz, looking incredibly done up for two men who had been drinking and dancing the night away just hours ago. Right, she thought. Disguise spells. And Kravitz wasn’t quite corporeal in the first place, anyway. He could just will a new appearance of himself into existence. Made for a cheaper and more dapper wardrobe, anyway. She couldn’t say she wouldn’t do the same in his position. 

They always looked so nice. And they looked damn  _ good  _ together. She was happy for Taako, even if she’d never really get the chance to tell him herself, at least not in a way that he’d ever take to heart. But still, she couldn’t help but laugh at the irony that after so many years outrunning the hunger and cheating death, he’d wound up falling for death himself. 

Magnus returned to her side with a plate of eggs and a pile of bacon and two chocolate chip muffins. “What happened to getting a table?” he asked as she meandered towards a seat, eyes still on the back of Taako’s head. He’d pinned up his hair up in a bun with chopsticks that were topped with two glimmering pink stones.Tourmaline. She smiled to herself as she sat down. A gift from Kravitz, no doubt. She was glad to know that Taako’s dark sense of humor hadn’t changed a bit. 

They sat together at a table nearby. She was within Kravitz’s line of sight, but not Taako’s. She thought it might be best that way for sake of keeping the peace. “Do you want juice?” Magnus asked after putting his plate down and handing her the second empty plate he’d gotten so they could split the pile of food between them. 

“Tea, if they have it, please?” 

She resisted the urge to call him dear. Being professional was harder when it felt like  _ everyone  _ knew your secret. 

He smiled his crooked smile and it warmed her heart. “You got it.” 

He returned a few moments later with a huge glass of an unidentifiable juice and a mug of tea for her: rose with a splash of milk and two sugar cubes. She smiled. 

“You remembered.” 

He smirked. “How could I forget?” 

She caught herself on his joke for a moment, but the laugh he offered was genuine and warm. He brushed her hand with his thumb before withdrawing to chow down on his pile of eggs. 

“I don’t think we should…” She paused as he continued to shovel eggs into his mouth. “Magnus?” 

He looked up, fork paused by his mouth. “Huh?” 

“When people are around, I don’t think we should… You know. With uh, everyone, and um… Taako? Does he…?”

“Oh! Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,” rambled Magnus. He put his fork down with a loud clank. “Totally, yeah, cool. Good call. Sorry.” 

He was bright red. It was very endearing. 

“It’s okay, I just worry, you know… Sometimes it’s better to let people wonder, than to let them all know.” 

“Right! Totally. Sorry, I just… You know. I wasn’t thinking. It just feels…” 

“Natural,” she finished for him. 

He nodded, resuming his demolition on his plate of eggs. “Feels good.” he confirmed, still chewing.

She laughed to herself and peeled the wrapper from her muffin. It felt a little stale. She frowned and examined it before taking a bite to confirm her suspicions. “This is not a good muffin.” 

Magnus chomped on a piece of bacon in self-satisfaction. “Told you we should have stayed upstairs.” 

They fell into a comfortable silence together, Lucretia sipping her tea and picking chocolate chips out of the muffin to nibble on. After a while, she scooped some eggs and a few pieces of bacon onto her plate and picked at those, too. 

“The wedding was really nice. Like, reeeal nice, right?” Magnus commented. He sipped his juice. 

“It was…” She watched him put the glass down and lean back in his chair. She found it hard to make small talk while he was actually sipping that mystery liquid. “Um, what kind of juice is that?” 

“Oh! They had a bunch of different ones, so I mixed them all together.” 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

He laughed. “What!? It’s so good! Try it.” 

She opened her eyes to him shoving the glass into her hand. She rolled her eyes and took a sip. It just tasted like a lot of fruit. Basically, an explosion of every known fruit in her mouth at once. She didn’t  _ hate  _ it, but she knew it was probably something only Magnus would truly enjoy. 

“Right?” 

She laughed and shook her head. “Sure.” But in spite of herself, she kept the glass in her hand for another sip.

She looked up, still smiling, and caught Kravitz’s eye from the table across the way. Her eyes softened, lips falling from their grin and pressing into a somewhat sad smile. They shared a look not unlike the one that they had the night before on the dance floor as he’d whirled around with Taako, who’d done his best to simply ignore Lucretia instead of stirring the pot. That’s how it usually was at their family functions; she kept to herself, and he kept on as if she weren’t there. But now, bringing Magnus into the middle of that… she couldn’t imagine it continuing on the same trajectory. She just hoped that it led somewhere just as quiet, at the worst. 

Upon looking up and following his boyfriend’s gaze, Taako turned around in his seat to see Lucretia staring and Magnus sitting with his back to him. His eyes narrowed just enough for her to take notice. But it wasn’t Lucretia he was looking at, it was Magnus. Before she could say anything, Magnus reached out for his cup back and she handed it to him, breaking her eyes from the couple. 

“You alright?” Magnus asked. “Juice got you that good?” 

“I’m fine,” she said softly. Taako had turned back around and Kravitz had taken both of the elf’s hands playfully into his own, both their elbows placed on the surface of the table. He snuck a quick glance over at her and nodded slightly, just enough so she could know things were okay. She made a mental note to send Kravitz her thanks in some way. Maybe his birthday? Did reapers of death have birthdays, or deathdays? 

Most of the breakfast-goers had wandered out of the lobby and back up into their rooms to pack up and check out. Lucretia wasn’t looking forward to the voyage back “home” to Neverwinter where she’d been staying in her “temporary digs,” as Carey had so affectionately dubbed her interim apartment. Her throat tightened a little as she realized that that would also entail parting from Magnus so soon after they’d decided to take the leap into their relationship once more. 

She picked at her muffin just out of spite. She wished that she’d listened to him and had just stayed in bed for round three. When would she see him again? 

“Hey, what’s wrong? If it’s the muffins, we can check out and then go wander ‘til we find a bakery with some muffins that are fresh as hell. I’ll make sure of it.” 

She laughed quietly. “No, no… I mean, yes, I won’t say no to a good muffin, but after that… I don’t want to go home, you know? It’s stupid.” 

“No, I don’t either.” Magnus’s voice was suddenly soft. “It sucks to have to leave so soon, I mean... “

“Yeah.” 

“But it’s not like I’m never gonna see you! You can come to Raven’s Roost any time. Or, if I can find my way there, I can go to Neverwinter! OR, if you send me a glass ball, we can meet on the moon! You’d think that’s not really halfway, but that’s way faster than trying to get to Raven’s Roost. I don’t think you want a ten day’s ride for a bootycall.” 

The way he excitedly laid out their options warmed her heart, then made her laugh. 

“I mean, after last night?” she stifled a laugh. Across from her, Taako and Kravitz got up from their table. Taako was already pacing in their direction while Kravitz gathered their dishes to place in the bin by the trash. Lucretia stiffened her spine. 

“Good morning, Maggie,” Taako sang. He didn’t bother to make eye contact with Lucretia. He ruffled Magnus’s hair without so much as slowing his walk and continued on past both of them. 

Magnus looked from Taako’s receding figure, hips swinging as he walked, and Lucretia’s anxious eyes. 

“Do you think he knows?” Lucretia asked, fiddling with Magnus’s discarded straw wrapper. 

Magnus sighed. “Not sure.” 

Kravitz placed the dishes in the bin nearby and approached their table. He looked calm, but also somewhat apologetic. 

“Good morning to you, Madam Director.” 

She nodded to him with a smile. “Kravitz, please call me Lucretia.” 

“Lucretia. Always a pleasure.”

He didn’t mention Taako, or apologize for him. He didn’t need to. 

“Magnus.” The reaper nodded with a different smile to the larger man. There was something secretive about the look he gave him. Something hungry. 

Lucretia resisted the urge to raise a brow. 

“Good to see ya, Krav. Let’s get dinner sometime.” 

“That’d be wonderful. I’ll see you both soon, I’m sure?” 

Magnus and Lucretia nodded in unison, both a little mesmerized. “Of course.” 

Kravitz left them with a pleasant smile. Lucretia watched Magnus as he watched Kravitz leave, jogging just a little bit to catch up to Taako who was waiting for the elevator with a tapping high heel. When he brought his focus back to her, he found her smirking. 

“You slept with Kravitz?” 

Magnus sighed in exasperation. “How do you keep doing this?!” 

“You have  _ no  _ poker face, dear. None at all, actually. But to be fair, it was Kravitz who gave you away that time.” 

“They invited me out for drinks one night and one thing kind of led to another? Iunno.” 

She glanced around to see if anyone was looking, then traced a finger along his hand. “You don’t have to justify it to me. I mean, I don’t blame you. He is quite handsome.” 

Magnus puffed out a breath that filled his cheeks. “Oof. Yeah. He is.” 

After a while longer of lingering and not wanting to leave, Magnus cleared their dishes and left only the untouched second muffin at their table. As he was tidying up the last of their mess, Angus came over to say hello. 

“Good morning, sir!” he said excitedly. “I just wanted to say goodbye before Mr. Avi takes me back to soccer camp today!” 

“Oh, buddy! That won’t do. Let me walk you out, huh? But go say bye to Lucretia first.” 

Angus walked over to her table. She couldn’t believe how much taller he had gotten in the year that had passed since they’d saved the world. She rose from her seat to pull him into a proper embrace. “It’s always so good to see you, Angus. Let me know if there’s anything at all that you need, and I will get it to you.” 

“Thanks, Madam. I mean, soccer camp is only two weeks, but I appreciate the offer!” 

She smiled warmly down at him and resisted the urge to muss with his hair. He wasn’t a little kid anymore, and in fact, he was sharper than ever. The feeling was bittersweet. 

“Be good. I love you.” 

“I love you too, ma’am.” 

“Angus?” 

“...Lucretia.” She’d never heard her name feel so unnatural. She couldn’t help but chuckle at the sound. 

Magnus nodded to her in a confirmation of  _ be right back  _ and walked out with Avi and Angus. Lucretia returned to her seat, finally alone for a moment of quiet, and picked with the wrapper of the second muffin anxiously. She really didn’t want to go home. She kind of wanted to live in the snowglobe of the last 24 hours forever. 

The staff had begun to clear out the breakfast buffet, leaving only the tea and coffee for guests who’d gotten up too late for reap the benefits of their hotel stay. She got up and fixed two more mugs for herself and Magnus: the same rose tea for her, and a coffee, extra light and extra sweet, for Magnus. She set them on the table and waited for him to return. 

As she stirred her tea absentmindedly, she saw someone tall and blonde run out of the elevator. It was Lup, with her hair a mess and wrapped in a hotel bathrobe over her pajama pants. 

“Shit, I missed the free food?!” 

Lucretia laughed and held up her tea for a sip. “Sorry, dear.” 

“That’s what I get for sleeping in. I really should blame you. Sharing a wall with you last night didn’t make for much sleep.” 

Lucretia blushed so deeply that she was sure she’d turned purple.

* * *

After stopping by her room to retrieve her bag that she hadn't even had to unpack, Lucretia wound up back in Magnus’s room. It was like they were teenagers; the second the door closed, he tugged her back to the bed as he sat and pulled her into his lap. She felt nothing but butterflies that filled her lungs and flew away with every breath that fanned over his parted lips. He snaked an arm around her waist and laid her down on the mattress so he could kiss down her neck and collarbone. An eager hand tugged at the collar of her shirt.

“Magnus,” she breathed. “We have to go. Check out is in ten minutes.” 

“You know I can get you in five.” 

She chuckled and lightly scratched her nails on his scalp. “I know, but I don’t think it'd be wise.”

“Why do you have to be  _ responsible?”  _ he whined. He brought himself back up to her face and gave her a few languid kisses on her lips. Finally, he forced himself away and helped her up and onto her feet. 

She couldn't help herself; she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him some more.

“I don't want you to go,” Magnus confessed in a sigh. “Like, I _ really  _ don't want you to go.” 

“I don't want to go.” 

She found herself swallowing tears. Despite everything, her anxiety crept back in. What if this was it, she thought. What if he went back to Raven’s Roost where he’d loved and lost his wife and realized he'd made a mistake? 

“Well, when will I see you again?” He brushed a lock of curly hair out of her face. If he saw the tears in her eyes, he didn't mention them. 

“Soon.”

“When?” 

He wanted to see her. That was a good sign, right? 

She considered her schedule. There had to be time for Magnus. She could put some of her work aside. Perhaps finally hire an assistant, just to take on some of the bureaucratic activity, at least… 

“Friday? I'll be at the moonbase.”

She feared it might be too soon. That was only five days from now. But a grin broke over his face. 

“Friday is perfect. The night is all yours.” 

They double checked the room for missing clothes (or stray candy), then made their way down to the lobby. He grabbed her free hand and squeezed it in the elevator just for fair measure. 

They checked out of their respective rooms and made their way out to the front of the hotel. They strolled along for a few minutes on the pathway that they'd taken their walk on the night before.

“This was really lovely, Magnus. Thank you.” 

He brushed a hand over her back. “Thank  _ you.”  _

She tried to calm the last of her lingering fears, but had no such luck. “Um… I… this is foolish, I suppose, but if you have second thoughts, it's okay to tell me.” 

“I don't.” 

She exhaled. “Right. But if you do, later…”

He shook his head. “I won't.” 

“Okay.” 

“I know you're gonna agonize over this, Luce, so I'm gonna repeat that. I don't have any second thoughts. I took my time and decided that you’re what I want. It's really that simple.” 

The idea of anything being  _ simple  _ baffled her. But she would have to take his word for it. 

“I'll see you Friday,” promised Magnus.

She glanced over her shoulder and, upon finding no prying eyes, kissed his cheek quickly. 

“Call me when you're home?” 

“You know I will. Oh, and next time you’re in Raven’s Roost, I  _ will  _ make good on that muffin. I know a guy.” 

She laughed and let him go. That silly, natural rustic hospitality. She walked backwards to turn, but couldn't take her eyes from him. “I'll hold you to that.” 

“I know you will.” 

Magnus walked up to the modest battlewagon that was to return him to Raven’s Roost. Before opening the door, he turned and gave her a wide smile and a wave. She mirrored them both. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest. 

Things were going to be okay.

Things were going to be good. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if ya stuck with me through this-- thanks for reading! hmu on tumblr if you like, @magcretia


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